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Economics Minister Wants To Spur East's Growth

According to a report in the Friday edition of the "Financial Times Deutschland" newspaper, German Economics Minister Wolfgang Clement will seek to create a special economic zone in order to spur growth in the country's eastern states. Clement is currently probing the constitutionality of a plan to permit the temporary suspension of regulations dealing with business permits in order to reduce bureaucratic hassles for companies in the states formerly belonging to communist East Germany. If the experiment is successful in the east, the paper reported, Clement would like to simplify the permit process nationwide. Sources inside Clement's Social Democratic Party told the wire service Agence France Presse the economics minister would unveil his new plan in January.